Electrolytic meter.



E. WEINTRAUB.

ELECTROLYTIC METER.

APPLICATION FILED r2344, 1910.

Patented Aug. 5, 1913.

I I ITNE'SS S: JNYENTUR. m. m I'ZEGHEL WE'HSITRAUB.

BY A W4. W M

155's ATTURNEK sr rrEs EZECHIEL WEINTRAUIB, OFF LYNN, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR T0 GENERAL-ELECTRIC.

COMPANY, A'('3ORIEORA'IIO1\T OF" NEW-"YORK. f 1

. snnc'rao'nirrrc METER:

Specificationof Letters Patent;

1Paenaaraa5,1-9a.

a iinmio -med'eea ary14,1916? senarno; 543375531 To all whom it may concern Be it knownl that I, EziicHIEL Wnnw TRA'UB, a citizen of the United States, re-

siding at Lynn, county of Essex, 'State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Electrolytic Meters, of which the following is a specifi cat-ion;

My invention relates tometers for. meas uring the-consumption. of electric current in:

a' cincuit,.that depend for theinaction upon the decomposition-chair electrolyte by the current.

ing orderowing toimperfect circulation in the electrolyte, that tends-to permit the establishment of a counter -electromotive force in the meter, and to incomplete agglomeration of the mercury deposited from;

the solution, etc.

My invention aims to eliminate these ob jections and produce a! simple, reliable-and stable instrument. 1 i

The meter. which I have invented may take various forms and those which I shall illustrate and describe are only. some forms which have been found to be satisfactory;

Ingeneral, my meter consists of a suitable vessel to contain the electrolyte, with a fall tube at the bottom to collect the deposited mercury, and a container for the mercury anode suspendedin the upper part of said vessel with a; hermetically tight. joint between them; the lower end of said container being closed by a diaphragm of asuitable substance possessing osmotic, properties and having sufficient strengthto suetain the weight of the mercury and also capable of resisting the action of the elecurolyte. I] prefer to use for this purpose a piece of gold beaters skin.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure I is a vertical View, partly in section ofone form of my meter; Fig. 2 is a similar ,view

'of' a: modification of Fig. 1-; and Fig. 3 is a view in perspectlve on alarger-scale of a form of cathode.

The theory of these mercury meters is well known, and it is not necessary to go into this at) any length, but merely to say Meters. of this class have-been heretofore proposed .inwhich .the anode, is a body of mercury,' but ithas been-found difficult to maintain them in'proper work;

- that the action of iipon the a deposition of mercury [anelectro- .lyte contaming ajmercurysalt in solution,

5 the decrease in mercury be ng' made don- .lamy' meter this solutlon takesjplaoe through thegstantly by solution from the anode;

lmembrane or diaphragmi Referringfirst to Figs 1,tl ie electrolyte i1 is held in a glasslvessel 2 :froi1 1- -whose. filowerendc depends the fallg tubeqggxfllhis jfall tube is made. of a smaller diameter and lgraduated, as shown, enable the l ii ide zposited: mercury to; be readily .,mg sgf d,

5 the fineness Iof reading: depending upon the.

gdiameten of the tube. vA,cross-sect ionl ofthistube has not been illustrateidlisinceit may be of any desired or suitable configuir-atio'n. The upper end ofthe vesslQlhas la throat 4, preferably; somewhat conical, .receive a tapering glass} container 5 inwhich the mercury anodefi is iz'iclos'ed'.

- i'l heupper end of throat 4' is formedwith a .proje c ting lip 4 so. that. a suitablesealing substance may be. poured ing this lip firmly attach the' con-tainer to the. yessell' .Thejoint between the vessel Zand the container 5; is made air-tight,preferably by {forming aground joint where the tw-o come in contact. The upper. end: of the con,

ltainer, closed and a leading-in wire 7 passes nto the container and extends down intov the @inercury for making connections with thecircuitfto-be measured. The lower end of the container is open and has. a flaring or flanged construction, affording a convenient. means for securing the membr-ane or diaphragmB, which is preferably com- ;posed ofgoldbeaters skin and is drawn formed an opening 14: which ends in atube.

15, and forms a passage through the wall of the container into vessel 2.. This passage is- SO positioned that the volume of the container above the passage is greater than that of the volume of the container below the passage. The object of this passage is to return to the container the mercury which has been deposited in the fall tube, and thisreturn may be eflected by inverting the meter so that the mercur will flow into what is normally the top 0 the meter and through the passage into the container. The upper portion of the container is made sufliciently large to hold all the mercury which may be used with the meter.

Fig. 2 shows a modification of Fig. 1. The modification consists in forming the anode container with a number of branches similar to the single branch shown in Fi 1. These branches have open lower en s each covered by an osmotic membrane 8' so that the container is provided with a multiplicity of these membranes. The advantage of this form of construction over that shown in Fig. 1 is that each membrane may be made to have a smaller surface so that it will have great mechanical strength. As a number of such membranes are used, the total surface of the membranes will be larger for greater mechanical strength than if only one membrane were used, and thus the polarization at the anode is decreased since the polarization is smaller the larger the surface. In this form of meter I have illustrated a different form of cathode which is shown on a larger scale in Fig. 3. This cathode may be made of various substances, such, for example, as Acheson graphite, which I have used with success. The cathode consists of a cylindrical member 16 formed of graphite or other suitable substances and attached by an insulated member 17 to the wall of vessel 2. A conductor may be extended along this member 17 and connected to the leading-in wire 12.

My osmotic membrane solves several of the problems which have heretofore been troublesome in this class of meters. It makes the reduction in the volume of the anode immaterial, as a certain definite sur: face is always in communication with the electrolyte. It permits the placing of the anode directly above the cathode and reduces the distance between them to a very small value so that the difference in concentration of the solution due to the electrolytic action is very slight. It secures a good circulation of the solution by the action of gravity, the rich liquid falling from the anode to the cathode and the poor liquid rising from the cathode to the anode. In this connection it should be stated that in order to get the best results the electrolyte should be free from both acid and alkaline solutions or solutions that are liable to give, in the course of operation, slightly acid or alkaline reactions. One of the reasons for this is that a solution which is not neutral exerts after a long period a weakening action on the membrane. I have found that a suitable substance for the electrolyte may be a solution of mercuric chlorid and potassium sulfocyanate or a solution of the double sulfocyanate of potassium and mercury; the essential characteristic of the solution being that hydrolysis is practically absent.

I have described and illustrated my present invention as embodied in a particular form of meter. The features of'construction of this particular meter are claimed in the patent granted to me October 2 1, 1911 and numbered 1,006,612.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is,-

1. An electrolytic meter having a mercury anode, an osmotic membrane separating it from the electrolyte, and an electrolyte containing potassium sulfocyanate.

2. An electrolytic meter having a mercury anode, a membrane of gold beaters skin separating it from the electrolyte, and an electrolyte containing potassium sulfocyanate.

3. An electrolytic meter comprising a vessel for the electrolyte having a tapered throat, a tapering container for the mercury anode fitting hermetically into said throat, and an osmotic membrane closing the lower end of said container.

4. An electrolytic meter comprising a vessel for the electrolyte, a container for a mercury anode depending from the upper part of said vessel provided with a passage through its wall into the vessel, and an osmotic membrane closing the lower end of the container.

5. An electrolytic meter comprising a vessel for the electrolyte, a closed container for the mercury anode depending from the up per part of said vessel rovided with a passage through its wall into the vessel posi tioned so that the volume of the container above the passage is greater than the volume below the passage, and an osmotic membrane closing the lower end of the container.

6. An electrolytic meter havinga mercury anode and comprising, a vessel for the electrolyte, a container for the mercury anode depending from the upper part of said vessel and provided with a plurality of branching tubes, an osmotic membrane covering the lower end of each of said branching tubes, and a cooperating cathode in said vessel.

7. An electrolytic meter having an anode of mercury, an electrolyte, and a membrane of gold beaters skin separating the mercury and electrolyte.

8. An electrolytic meter having a mercury anode comprising, a vessel for the elect-rolyte a container for the mercury anode In witness whereof, I have hereunto set depending from the upper part of said vesmy hand this eleventh day of February, sel, a plurality of branch tubes depending 1910.

from said container, an osmotic membrane EZECHIEL WEINTRAUB. 5 covering the lower end of each branch tube, \Vitnesses: and a passage through the Wall of said con- JOHN A. McMANUs, J12,

tainer and communicating with said vessel. CHARLES A. BARNARD. 

